Sunday, May 12, 2013

How to Write Good / John Vorhaus

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Author:

John
Vorhaus is the author of numerous novels and screenplays. In the non-fiction
arena, he’s written several books on poker as well as a guide on writing comedy
for television and film, The Comic
Toolbox: How to be Funny Even If You’re Not, which is now in its fifth
printing.

“Starting
with a wink at his own dumb title and a case for whimsy as a writer’s best
friend, veteran writer and writing instructor John Vorhaus offers us this
latest glimpse inside his writing mind. Drawing on a quarter-century of
experience in writing scripts and novels, and teaching and training writers
worldwide.”

Appraisal:

The
dedication of How to Write Good is “to
everyone who has the itch,” and its aim seems as much motivational as
instructional, to get those who are writing wannabes to start, and encourage
those who have tried and struggled, to try, try again. If there is an
overriding theme, it is that the key to figuring out what works, not for other
writers, but what works for you, is not being afraid to give an idea a try. Be
whimsical. Heck, you can even try a grammatically questionable title.

Vorhaus
says “in writing, there are no wrong choices,” and he’s not afraid to make what
seems like a wrong choice. For example, this snippet from early in the book:

(Boy, here comes a convoluted
sentence – get ready for it.) I figure you figure what I figure you figure
because if I were you I would be figuring the exact same thing. (Told ya.
Convoluted as hell.)

Confused? I
can’t blame you, yet, this sentence worked for me. Vorhaus’ books are always
spiked with humor, and as the above shows, he’s not afraid of poking fun at
himself. In this section he’s talking about reading the mind of the reader,
specifically how they’ll react, by evaluating how you react (this is also one
of the keys to success in poker, one of Vorhaus’ other areas of expertise).

After
reading How to Write Well, even the
worst writer in the world should be encouraged to keep plugging away. As
Vorhaus says, even that worst writer who is “spewing drivel onto the page every
day,” will eventually reach the point where it “will cease being drivel, or at
least evolve into drivel of a finer sort.” For some of us, drivel of a finer
sort is a worthy goal, at least for now.

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